Friday, January 27, 2006

Update

I'm in a suit, having completed a mock-interview in preparation for the 4 hour firm-interview I have on Monday. My mind is racing and my ears are red because I'm revved up in general, and also because I had 1/2 caffeinated coffee this morning. I'm afraid that I'm turning into one of those law students who does nothing except talk about stress and law school. So to fend that off...

Recently, I've been waking up in the morning with someone from my life in Maine in my mind, or a particular memory vividly displayed on the internal screen. As I move into the interview process, which signals a further commitment to DC for the time being since I'm only applying to summer jobs and internship here, my memory chose to take me back to the night I left New York in August 2004. It seems like a long time ago.

I had been diligently bringing boxes home from work every night and the place was pretty well stored away, but those last-minute items always take longer than anticipated. I had a "moving/going-away party" that my New York friends so generously came to and helped us carry things down the four flights of steep stairs to the U-haul. Afterwards, I drove it the rickety thing to an open-lot in mid-town and then met up with everyone for drinks. I remember feeling supported and good about the move...and I remember how delicious the quesedia I ate tasted after all the lifting.

The next day we went to the U.S. Open and saw Roger Federer play. Then we returned to finish up the final packing of my studio on the UWS. We stuffed the last item in the truck around 9 pm and decided that we might as well push on and drive to DC that night. It was a bold move, considering we were going to sushi on the upper east with his cousins first, which put as at an ETA in DC of around 4 am.

Energized by the definitive (if a little ridiculous) decision we'd made, we jumped in the U-haul cab to head swinging and stuttering across town. But when I turned the key the ignition did NOTHING. NOTHING. Not a single little "putt" from the tired engine. I don't remember what I felt, because those feelings were so quickly eclipsed by extreme gratitude. A couple out on a date were looking for a parking space, and they not only had jumper cables, but agreed to help us --- even after we told them it was an illegal spot that we'd be freeing up.

And so, we rumbled across town, shuttering each time I had to make it down a particularly narrow street or make any merge-like-move (you cannot see out the back of a U-haul). We ate delicious sushi. And then we rumbled south on I-95, with the A/C off and the red engine light glowing all the while.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Profound BS

Second semester of law school has begun. I'm doing my best to take advantage of the slightly slower pace, but I'm feeling nagged by the need to apply to (unpaid) summer internships, and then figure out how I'm going to cover my expenses. Nobody is a fan of writing cover letters, and I'm no exception. I'm usually decent, though, at coming up with some narrative that brings me to my present interest in the position I'm applying for. But for some of the jobs that I think might be interesting, I've got nothing -- just an interest in checking out something new. So I've left that paragraph in the body of many of my cover letters unfinished.

"I'll just move onto paragraph three where I talk about my qualifications," I say to myself. Wait, what qualifications? At the career counseling center they suggested I could say something about my "legal training". Legal training? What legal training. I laugh every time I write it (before vigorously hitting the delete button). Ha! one semester of law school = legal training?

So here I am, with my "strong writing and research skills", no grades to show for my first semester (and no idea what those grades might be) blowing in the wind, hoping a bolt of inspiration will hit me, or else that an inspired bolt will hit one of the potential empoyers I've sent my application to and encourage them to respond. In the meantime I'll be hitting my head against a wall.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

10 Things I Love About Holland

1. Eating chocolate sprinkles (hagelslag) with butter on bread qualifies as an acceptable breakfast

2. Butter is its own food group

3. The bikes. They're everywhere and you can use them to get just about anywhere - day or night. The whole country is flat as a pancake so you never get winded going up hill.

4. The New Years Eve fireworks. The whole country lets loose in a ball of firey brightness for about 12 hours. Everyone and their mother has a stash they lite off.

5. The whimsical sense of style.

6. The church tower bells that chime the hour in many towns.

7. Van Gogh, Rembrant, Vermeer

8. The friendly people. Bless them they almost all speak amazingly good English and are also willing to indulge my poor Dutch.

9. The happy yellow trains that always run on time.

10. Amsterdam.